the gateway the fugitives had stepped out briskly, and had covered
nearly half the distance to the pavilion before the alarm had been
given.
They now set off at a run, after discarding their disguises, and at
first it seemed as though there would be no difficulty in reaching the
tower well ahead of their pursuers. Indeed, the latter seemed, at one
time, to have almost given up the chase; for only a few were to be seen
coming towards them; the rest had halted.
A few moments later, however, the cause of the delay became clear.
Suddenly a man rose in the air on motor-wings and began to sail rapidly
towards them. He was armed with a trident. Convinced that he would
easily effect the capture of the fugitives, who had, as could be seen,
neither shields nor tridents, the remainder of the crowd followed
quietly in the rear. They would be in plenty of time, they reckoned, to
pick up the unconscious bodies when the man with the trident had dealt
with them.
Malto muttered something between his set teeth.
'I 'm afraid it is no use,' said Malandris despondently, as he ran along
beside the others. 'He is bound to overtake us, and we are all
unarmed.'
'Not quite,' Jack answered. 'If they think we are, so much the better;
it may give us a chance to get on equal terms with that flying chap.
His trident is no good at more than twenty yards. We have something
here which reaches farther than that.'
He and Gerald had drawn their revolvers, and were looking to the hammers
as they raced onwards, to make quite sure that they were in working
order. Everything would depend upon making good practice with their
first shots.
'You aim at one wing, Gerald,' said Jack; 'I will aim at the fellow's
arm which carries the trident. Take it easy! Don't run too fast; it
will make your hand shake.'
They continued on their way for some distance farther. The pavilion was
now not far off; so also, unfortunately, was the flying man with his
trident.
Jack gave a sign to Gerald, and they both turned and faced him. Alondra
stopped too; and the others, although they did not exactly understand
what was likely to happen, immediately halted, because they would not
leave the three to their fate.
As it happened, this was the best thing they could have done. The
flying man interpreted their action as an abject surrender. He
slackened speed and came on carelessly.
Then two shots rang out. Jack's aim was true; his bullet struck the
man's right arm, and the trident flew from the hand which had grasped
it. Gerald's first shot missed, but his second struck one wing and
smashed the light framework. The wing drooped, and the flier fell
heavily to the ground.
*[Illustration: The wing drooped, and the flier
fell heavily to the ground
(missing from source book)]*
'Good! Good! Capital!' Malto and Malandris cried out, in surprised
wonder and delight at this turn of affairs, for neither of them
understood anything about pistols.
'Now, run for it, my friends! We shall get there first yet!' Jack
called out.
'Let me have his trident, though,' said Alondra, as he picked up the
fallen man's weapon. 'This may come in useful, you know.'
There was a great outcry behind them as the pursuers witnessed the
discomfiture of the aeronaut. The crowd at once took up the chase in a
manner which showed how confidently they had been counting upon his
ability to capture the fugitives without their aid.
As has been stated, the men in the dark-purple dresses were big, fine
men, all of them. There was that in their aspect, too, which betokened
a fierce nature, used to warfare.
They quickly made it evident that they were good runners, and they
started off now in earnest and came on swiftly. But they had lost
whatever chance they might at first have had of overtaking those they
were chasing, by trusting too confidently to the man with the wings.
By the time they reached the base of the tower the fugitives had already
dashed up the steps leading to the entrance, had opened and passed
through some barred gates, fastened them behind them, and gained the
shelter of the doorway.
A minute or two afterwards they appeared upon a balcony, of which there
were several running round the tower on the outside, one above the
other, and complacently smiled down upon their baffled foes.
'Well, we 've beaten 'em so far,' exclaimed Malto. 'I had almost given
up hope. We should have been done for if it hadn't been for those noisy
playthings of yours, young gentlemen. May I ask what they are, and
where they come from? I have never met with that kind of weapon
before.'
'They come from a far country, so far that your head would scarcely
carry the tale of the figures if I were to attempt to give them to you,'
Alondra declared laughingly. 'Now, what is to be done next? Our foes
will be sending an airship against us, I suppose; and if assistance
doesn't reach us pretty soon I am afraid they will have the best of it,
after all.'
'No, I don't think there is any fear of that. They won't send an airship
against us,' said Malto.
Malandris shook his head too. 'Not during the day,' he assented. 'They
might when it gets dark, if we are still here.'
'Why not?' asked Jack, in surprise.
'It would attract attention. You see, our master has visitors. Prince
Alondra, the son of King Ivanta, is staying here; and he, or some of his
people, might be cruising about in his air-yacht or in some of the
airships which came with him. If they caught sight of an airship engaged
in fighting operations down here their curiosity might be aroused, and
they might come and ask inconvenient questions.'
At this Gerald and Jack glanced at one another and then at Alondra, and
nearly burst out laughing; but the latter made a sign, and they turned
away and said nothing. The young prince wished to keep his identity a
secret a little longer, in order that he might have an opportunity of
quietly probing farther into the meaning of the extraordinary events of
that eventful morning.
'What, then, do you suppose they will do?' Alondra went on.
'Oh, very likely nothing at all! Just loaf about to make sure that we
don't get away during the day. They know they can't break into this
pavilion; it has been strongly built on purpose. Then at night they
will make sure of us. Our best hope is that we may see some passing
airship and attract the attention of the people in her, and that they
may come and take us off.'
'That doesn't sound very hopeful. It might be one of Agrando's
airships,' Jack pointed out.
'On the other hand, it might be one belonging to his visitors,' said
Malto. 'Then, I imagine, we should be all right. I suppose you belong
to their party, don't you? I have been thinking it over, and can't
guess who else you can be. You said you could take me to King Ivanta,
and I don't see how you could make such a promise unless you belonged to
the prince's party.'
He looked searchingly at Alondra as he spoke, and there was in his tone
and look a suggestion of reproach at their keeping him in the dark.
'You are quite right, my friend,' Alondra now said gravely. 'We do
belong to the party of visitors you speak of. I expect they are already
wondering where we have got to, and will be coming out to look for us
before long. So I hope our troubles are over, or soon will be. And
now, as we have time for a little talk, I want to hear your stories--you
two. Explain to me the meaning of all that has happened.'
But Malto shook his head.
'I wish to tell it all to King Ivanta, and to no one else,' he declared.
'You have promised to take me to him, and I shall ask you to keep your
promise, and to refrain from questioning me meantime. Cannot you
understand that the king might not be pleased if he found I had been
talking freely of things which he may wish had been kept for his ear
alone?'
Alondra was silent. He felt that Malto was right, and could not but
respect him for his caution. At the same time, he was burning to have
some explanation of their adventures.
'But you said you wished for our testimony to back up yours,' he
reminded him. 'How can we help in that way if you do not enlighten us
as to what it is we are to testify about?'
It was now Malto's turn to ponder, and he remained for a space gazing
out thoughtfully over the expanse of ground which lay upon the other
side of the pavilion.
The three followed his glance, and noted that the building formed part
of the boundary wall of an extensive enclosure, which just here
consisted of an extremely high and massive-looking stone fence, adorned
at the top with formidable metal spikes.
Farther round, to right and to left, the boundary wall consisted of
precipitous rocks, which shut the place in, and made it a kind of a
park.
Alondra noted this, and, breaking off from the subject of his last
question, asked why they could not descend from the pavilion into this
enclosure. It seemed to him that it would be a difficult matter for
their enemies to scale the wall in order to follow them.
Just as he had spoken there rose on the air a strange, weird, booming
sound. It was a sort of bellowing roar, but far louder and more
startling than the bellow of a bull or the roar of the largest lion ever
seen or heard of. The sound seemed to come from a distance; yet it was
so loud that it almost made the tower itself tremble. That it was
produced by some member of the animal kingdom seemed pretty certain.
But what horrible monster could it be which could make such a sound?
There was something almost supernatural in its awful depth and power;
something appalling in the menacing tones of the hoarse, ferocious growl
into which it changed as it gradually died away.
'What in the name of all that is horrible is that?' cried the startled
young prince.
'It is the answer to your question,' returned Malto quietly. 'That is
to say, it partly answers both your questions. I may go so far as to
explain that my original object in coming here, before we were found out
and pursued, was that you might perhaps hear that terrible roar, and
possibly catch sight of the creature which gave utterance to it. But it
is not at present in sight, and I imagine that, after what you heard,
you will scarcely care to get out on the other side of the pavilion and
go to look for it?'
'I--I think not,' said Alondra. 'I will take your word for it that we
are probably safer even here than we should be down there.'
'You are,' answered Malto drily. 'It is a creature upon which neither
your trident nor the strange weapons of your young friends would make
more impression than upon yonder rocks! Now you will be able, if we
ever come before King Ivanta, to confirm one part of what I wish him to
know. King Agrando has a name as a collector of all kinds of curiosities
and monstrosities. King Ivanta has himself helped him to make his
collection the most comprehensive that has ever been seen'----
'Yes, yes, I know all that,' Alondra put in impatiently.
'Ay, but what you do not know is this--that Agrando's object in
gathering these out-of-the-way things about him is not altogether a mere
harmless love of the curious. He is a monster of cruelty'----
'A perfect fiend!' Malandris interjected.
'His craze--for such it is--is a sort of madness,' Malto continued. 'It
is to set men to fight for their lives with the most terrible creatures
he can find to pit against them. That is the amusement he and that
demon Kazzaro delight in! That is why they have constructed all these
secret places, which none know of save themselves and their myrmidons.
Little does the noble-minded Ivanta dream of the proceedings of these
two, or of the way in which he has himself contributed to them. If he
but knew'----
'Eh, what? How dare--I mean, how can King Ivanta have contributed to
such horrible cruelties as you are hinting at?' demanded Alondra hotly.
'I don't wonder that you are moved to indignation, young sir. But I am
not blaming King Ivanta. He has been deceived. For instance, he, it is
said, paid a visit to another planet, and brought back with him many
strange and horrible monsters never seen or heard of on our globe. Is
it not so?'
'Well?'
'Many of them were the young of fearful creatures. But, young or old,
he presented Agrando with specimens for his collection.'
'Very likely. What then? I see no harm in that.'
'No. For King Ivanta little guessed the use which the tyrant's
ingenious brain would put them to. Agrando gave out that most of them
died in captivity, that the climate here did not suit them, and so on.
Was it not so?'
'Very likely. I have heard something of the sort. What then?'
'It is untrue that they died--at least, as regards most of them. The
greater part--some of the most ferocious, terrible creatures amongst
them--he nursed with perverted tenderness and care. He has reared them
and brought them to maturity. Now his sole use for them is to pit them
against any one who happens to incur his anger; which means, of course,
simply dooming the hapless wretch to a cruel and terrible death. You
have just heard the voice of one; you saw others--monster bats which
they call krudias--in the cage below; you have also seen one of the
intended victims, and helped me to rescue him at the last moment.'
'Ay, he sent me there--sentenced me to that awful fate merely in a fit
of passing temper,' Malandris declared. 'My crime was only that I had
mistaken an order he gave me!'
'Horrible! Incredible!' cried Alondra, his eyes flashing with
indignation and disgust.
'You may well say incredible,' muttered Malto. 'That is why I wished you
to see some of the creatures for yourselves, you three, so that King
Ivanta might have your testimony to confirm mine. Otherwise, he might
think my statements, as you say, incredible. Little did I imagine then,
however, that you would witness such a convincing proof or that I should
find my friend Malandris in that cage!'
'And why were you dressed up in that grotesque fashion?' Alondra asked
of Malandris.
'Oh, that is one of Kazzaro's little jokes! It is a whim of his
sometimes to dress his victims up like the creatures they are doomed to
fight against.'
'But he wasn't there to look on to-day,' Jack commented.
'I suppose he happened to be particularly busy over something else, or
he would have been,' said Malandris grimly. He shuddered, and looked
around half-apprehensively. 'Now you can understand how much depends
upon our being able to escape from here, and what it will mean if we
fall again into his power.'
Gerald and Jack stared at one another, almost stupefied with horror.
'Did ever two such miscreants exist before, I wonder?' said Jack. 'How
right, Gerald, you were when you called Kazzaro the Ogre!'
'I am in for it, too, now, of course,' Malto added. 'They know by this
time what I have done; and I shall find no mercy there if I am dragged
back into their clutches.'
'But you sha'n't be!' cried Alondra, impulsively. 'I will not allow it!
And King Agrando, strong as he may deem himself upon his own ground,
dares not attempt to take you against my will.'
Malto and Malandris looked at him in astonishment at this unexpected
outburst.
'Your feelings do you credit, young sir,' said the elder man; 'but I
fear your brave words will not avail us much.' He smiled slightly and
sighed.
'But who are you, then, to talk like that?' exclaimed Malto
incredulously.
'This is King Ivanta's son, Prince Alondra!' said Jack.
*CHAPTER XXV.*
*AGRANDO THROWS OFF THE MASK.*
King Agrando sat in his own particular sanctum, watching, with absorbed
attention, the proceedings of the Diamond King, who was engaged in
fitting together, by way of trial, the several parts of a new crown.
Upon the table before him were spread out several heaps of lustrous,
sparkling loose stones, some of which must have been among the finest of
their kind in existence.
Agrando had made up his mind that this new crown was to be the most
magnificent that ever adorned the head of mortal potentate. Had he not
here at hand to advise him the greatest living authority upon such
subjects--Zuanstroom to wit--who claimed that he had seen, handled,
examined, and photographed the most splendid crowns which graced the
various royal heads upon our planet?
Zuanstroom picked up the gems one by one, and placed them tentatively in
the golden framework, stepping back from time to time to observe the
effect, as does an artist with his picture. Then, if the result did not
commend itself to his sense of the fitness of things, he would take some
of them out, and replace them with others of a different size or colour.
Agrando looked on, a curious variety of expressions flitting across his
face. He could not but admire the beauty of the work of art which was
slowly growing under his eyes. Yet he grudged the worker the delight of
handling the bewitching jewels.
To these two there entered Kazzaro. It was easy to see that he was put
out about something or other, and that he was in a very bad humour even
for him, which is saying a good deal. It should rather be said,
perhaps, that it would have been easy to perceive this if any one had
looked at him; as a matter of exact fact, no one did. Agrando's gaze was
fixed upon the table as though he feared that if he removed it for a
single instant some one would snatch at an odd stone and hide it away.
He knew his henchman's voice, and had no need to make use of his sight
to inform him who it was who had intruded upon his privacy.
'All gone wrong--miscarried!' he heard Kazzaro grumble. 'That young
upstart Alondra has escaped my snare after all!'
'So,' said Agrando, without taking his glance off the table, 'you 've
managed to blunder again, then?'
'Blunder, indeed!' growled the Ogre. 'I thought he was safe. I as good
as watched him drown! I saw him in the deadly coils which no one has
ever escaped before, up to his very neck in water. Then I came away in
haste, for fear some one might enter and find me there. Some one did
enter--must have done, I imagine--and just in time to rescue him, after
all!'
The king muttered something between his teeth.
Just then an officer came in and said something to Kazzaro in a low
tone. The latter started, turned visibly pale, and then, without a
word, left the apartment with him.
He was gone about a quarter of an hour, and when he returned he was
almost choking with rage.
'It's all up!' he cried, throwing his hands into the air. 'There is
treachery--treason--at work! Some strangers have made their way below
and rescued Malandris from the cage. He is missing, and so is Malto;
and there are signs that some of your visitors from the evening star
have been there, for they have killed one of the krudias with their
fire-weapons. Did I not warn you against ever allowing these people to
come here prying about? This is what has come of it!'
Agrando at last was roused, and he turned his eyes from his beloved
jewels. But when his gaze fell upon Kazzaro there was in it a menace
which made even that hardened miscreant tremble.
'Miserable wretch!' thundered his master. 'You dare to say this to me
as an excuse for your own clumsy blundering and lack of vigilance! By
Krondris, I'----
What awful threat he was about to utter, however, cannot be told, for he
was interrupted by the unceremonious entry of Zuanstroom's son Silas.
'Father, father!' he exclaimed, failing, in his excitement, to notice
the black looks cast at him by Agrando. 'Gerald and Jack have been
shooting some of King Agrando's soldiers, who have got them shut up in
the pavilion tower! Alondra is with them, and two of King Agrando's
officers. I know their names--they are Malto and Malandris! I saw them
shoot down a man sent to bring them back when they were running away.'
Out of breath, first with running and then with this speech, poured
forth in a violent hurry, Silas subsided, panting, into a chair.
'They are in the pavilion--that tower by the side of the place where
"the great beast," as you call it, lives?' asked Agrando with deadly
calmness.
'Yes, sir. They are defying all your people there, hoping, I expect, to
be taken off by Alondra's yacht.'
Agrando and Kazzaro looked at each other, the latter mutely asking for
orders.
'We must have them out of that tower,' said Agrando, in a hard, resolute
tone, 'before they can be taken off! Do you hear? We must have them at
any cost. Send out war-vessels! Knock the tower down with the traitors
in it! Crush them at any cost!'
'But how if Alondra's yacht reaches him first?' queried Kazzaro.
'Fight them! I 'm sick of this dissembling! Everything is prepared! We
will throw off the mask, and show Ivanta that we have some teeth beneath
it to bite with!'
*CHAPTER XXVI.*
*THE WIRELESS MESSAGE.*
While Agrando was issuing the orders which would precipitate his
long-thought-of revolt against his overlord King Ivanta, Alondra and his
four companions were waiting, with what patience they could command, for
the hoped-for arrival of their friends.
For a while there was a pause in the hostilities. Either their foes
recognised that it was not possible to attack them successfully with the
means then at their disposal, or they deemed it impolitic to do so.
After taking counsel together, they appeared resolved to content
themselves for the time with laying siege to the pavilion.
The only incident worthy of note during this interval was that a wind
sprang up, bringing with it heavy clouds. Rumblings were heard more
than once as of distant thunder, and there were other indications of a
coming storm.
Jack's abrupt announcement of Alondra's identity had naturally produced
a great effect upon the two officers of Agrando with whom they had
become so strangely associated. So surprising had the statement seemed
that Malto had at first been inclined to be incredulous. He
half-suspected that the statement might be a bit of rather ill-timed
levity on the part of the one who had made it. But a little reflection
altered this view.
'I have been foolish--blind--not to have guessed it before!' he
exclaimed. 'Prince, I have to ask your pardon for several things I said
which may perhaps have displeased you, especially when I refused
point-blank to answer some of your questions.'
'Nay, I think you were right in the circumstances,' said Alondra. 'It
proves that one can rely upon you to be close and discreet when you deem
it necessary.'
Malandris also had apologies to make; but Jack and Gerald both noticed
that his demeanour was different from that of Malto. The former spoke
and behaved just in the way that any one might be expected to do who is
confused at finding he has been all unknowingly talking rather freely in
the presence of a superior. Malto, on the other hand, appeared in no
wise embarrassed. He made his apologies with perfect self-possession,
and carried himself as though he were in the habit of associating with
distinguished personages every day of his life.
Alondra noticed this too, and at first was a little inclined to resent
it; but Malto's manner was so entirely unconscious and free from offence
that, with his usual good nature, the young prince quickly thrust the
idea aside. 'Well, now,' he said, when he had listened to their
apologies and given kindly and suitable replies, 'we are wasting time.
As my people don't seem to be coming to look for me of their own accord,
I must summon them.'
His companions stared at him with puzzled looks.
'I don't see how you are going to do that!' observed Jack.
'I will let you into a little secret, then. My royal father lent me,
just before we came away, one of his pocket telegraph-boxes; and he lent
Monck Affelda another, so that we might be able to communicate with one
another if we were separated. Perhaps he did not trust King Agrando
quite so much as he appeared to do. Anyway, he lent us these. He
usually keeps them for the exclusive use of himself and his most
confidential officers, and very few people even know of their existence.
He invented and designed them himself, and the working parts were made
by workmen he could trust, who were sworn to secrecy.'
The term 'Affelda,' applied to Monck, it may be here explained, was a
term of courtesy and respect in use among the Martians. It signified
rather more than our 'Mr' and something less than 'lord.'
As Alondra spoke he drew from a side-pocket a small affair which looked
at first sight like a gold chronometer attached to a gold chain. Just
then there came another rumbling warning of the approaching storm.
'Come inside. We shall be quieter there,' he said.